Introduction The John Deere Financial Calculator enables the user to calculate payments, solve for interest rates and solve for the amount financed based on specific contract information entered by the user.

The first area is where you set the calculator by selecting the Solve For Function, Country, Business Line and Contract Type.

The second area, down the left side, consists of the multiple fields used to enter the Contract Terms, such as the Contract Date, Amount Financed, Payment Amount, Interest Rate, Interest Begin Date, Number of Payments, Repayment Frequency and First Payment Date.

The third area is the Payment Schedule window that displays payments when the Calculate Payments button is clicked.

The fourth area is the buttons to the right of the Payment Schedule window that allow the user to modify the payment schedule by adding, skipping, fixing payments, calculating a balloon payment, buy down a rate, add a waiver, or add compensation. These buttons are active only when their functions can be applied to payment calculations.

The fifth area is the Amortization Table window that appears at the bottom of the screen when the "Amortization" button is clicked.

To discover "what this is..."hover your mouse over any of the fields or buttons
on the calculator image below to view a short description. Clicking on the field
or button will take you to more information. USE THE BACK BUTTON ON YOUR BROWSER
TO RETURN TO FIGURE 1.

Figure 1.

Before You Start
Prior to using the calculator it is important to correctly set fields 1 through
4 from the drop-down boxes. If these fields are not set correctly the resulting calculations will be incorrect.

Solve For – Payment Amount, Interest Rate, Amount Financed or Actual Purchase Option (lease only). Based on the option selected the appropriate Contract Terms fields become available for input.

Print
Quote
Click the Print Quote icon and text will open a new browser window where you
can begin configuring a Customer Quote sheet. There is separate Help section for quote printing.

Help
The Help Text link takes you to this Calculator Help screen. There is a separate
Help for Quote Printing.

Effective Rate
(U.S. Only) – The field displays the nominal annual rate and is updated after changes are made to the initial payment schedule (waivers, extensions, buy-downs, etc.).

Contract Terms
Fields
Before you can use the calculator buttons to the right of the Payment Schedule Window (Compensation, Buy Down, Waiver, etc.) enter the contract information in the Contract Terms fields and press the Calculate Payments button to generate a payment schedule. Figure 1. illustrates the Payment Schedule Window after the Calculate Payments button has been pressed.

5.
Contract Date – Enter the date the contract begins. The
date has to be entered as MM/DD/YYYY.

6. Amount Financed Field and Details Button – Figure
your deal or Amount Financed
The Details button to the right of the Amount Financed field brings up the following Calculate Amount Financed box, Figure 2:

Figure 2.

You can enter the detail amounts for the sale. The Fees field is intended for official fees, e.g., U.S. UCC fees, and the Program Fees field may be used for any origination fees and/or customer participation in program costs. When completed, click OK and the Amount Financed is entered in the Amount Financed field. These amounts also appear in the Printed Quote.

If you choose not to use the Details button you can simply enter the amount to be financed by clicking into the field and entering the required numbers. Press the Tab key to enter and auto-format the amount.

7. Payment Amount – The payment amount appears in this field, it is non-editable when you are solving for Payment Amount. However, when you are solving for Amount Financed or Interest Rate, you must enter the desired payment in this field.

8. Interest Rate – Enter the contract
rate, unless you are solving for Interest Rate, which makes the field uneditable.

9. Interest Begin Date – This is
the date that interest will start to accrue on the contract. Note: It is possible
to add a waiver to the contract to start interest accrual at a later date. A
waiver is the only type of calculation that will change the finance begin date.

10. Number of Payments – The number of
payments the customer is responsible for making over the term of the contract.

12. First Payment Date – This is the date that the first payment should be made by the customer. The date has to be entered as MM/DD/YYYY. The default is one payment frequency from the contract date, e.g., semi-annual would be 6 months from the contract date, for Canadian Installment and Lease and U.S. Lease.

Calculate PaymentsThis button calculates payments based on the information listed in the contract term fields. Before you can calculate a Buy-Down, Waiver or Dealer Compensation, etc. you must first generate a payment schedule by clicking the Calculate Payments button.

ClearThe Clear button will reset the calculator to the beginning of the current contract, clearing all changes made to the Payment Schedule, Compensation, Buy-Down, Waiver and Payment Discounts. IT DOES NOT RESET ANY CONTRACT TERMS ALTERED BY PREVIOUS ADJUSTMENTS TO THE PAYMENT SCHEDULE.

Clear All
The Clear All button resets the entire calculator to the default values shown when you first open the Calculator, with the exception of Repayment Frequency. Always begin calculating a new contract by resetting to default values. Anytime during the calculation of a contract that you find the results appear to be out of the ordinary, resetting to the default values and starting over will clear all extraneous errors.

Figure 3.

Payment Schedule
Buttons

Figure 3, above, shows
the the Payment Schedule window. Within this window you can edit the payment schedule. The payments may be altered using the Payment Schedule buttons described below (Skip, Skip Months, Fix, Fix Months, Add and Balloon). These buttons are not enabled until the contract information has been entered and the Calculate Payments button has been depressed.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Add Button
To enter an additional payment to the schedule, click on the Add button. An Add Payment Date window, Figure 4, will appear and prompt for a date. Enter the date of the payment in MM/DD/YYYY format and click the OK button.

A second window, Add Payment Amount, Figure 5, appears prompting for the payment amount. If an amount is typed in, it will be applied to that payment, and the other payments will be adjusted to account for this new payment, as illustrated in Figure 6, below. If the amount is left as $0.00, the new payment date is added to the schedule and equal payment amounts are recalculated to include the additional payment date in the schedule.

Figure 6.

Balloon Button
The Balloon button allows you to calculate a balloon payment at some point during the contract. To do so, highlight the payment you would like to make the balloon payment and press the Balloon button. The calculator will adjust the payment schedule by placing the balloon payment at that date, as illustrated in Figure 7, below.

Figure 7.

Fix Button
This button allows a payment to be set to a fixed amount. To do so, highlight the payment(s) to be fixed by clicking on them, then click the Fix button, an F will appear next to the payment. A Fix Payment box, Figure 8 below, will appear prompting for an amount to be set for that payment. Type in the amount and click the OK button. If more than one payment was highlighted, each highlighted payment will be adjusted to the amount you entered, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 10.

Fix Months Button
This button is only enabled when the repayment frequency is Monthly. Clicking the Fix Months button launches a Fix selected Months box, shown in Figure 10. This box allows you to select one or more payment months to be fixed each year for the term of the contract at the same dollar amount. After selecting the months you would like to fix you will be asked to enter the dollar amount for those payments. Clicking the Apply button changes the payments in the selected months to the dollar amount entered for every year within the term and adjusts the remaining payments accordingly to ensure the contract amortizes properly. In the example (Figure 10) the month of October will be fixed at $500 for each year of the term. You may select more than one month, but all payments must be the same dollar amount. If you want to fix different months at different dollar amounts you will need to select the month/s that will be fixed at a specific dollar amount, enter the amount and select Apply. Once those fixed payments have been applied to the payment schedule you may then select the Fixed Months button again and select the month/s you wish to fix at a different dollar amount, enter the amount and select Apply.

Skip
In order to skip a payment, highlight the payments that should be skipped by clicking the mouse on them (click a second time to clear a highlight made in error). Click on the "Skip" button, an S will appear next to the payment, the amount will be changed to zero, and the remaining payments will be adjusted to account for the skipped payment(s). See the example in Figure 11, below.

Figure 11.

Skip Months Button
This button is only enabled when the repayment frequency is Quarterly or Monthly. Clicking the Skip Months button launches a Skip Selected Months box, shown in Figure 12, below. This box allows you to select one or more payment months to be skipped each year for the term of the contract. Clicking the Apply button changes those payments to $0.00 for every year within the term, and adjusts the remaining payments, similar to Figure 11, above.

Figure 12.

Compensation Button
After calculating the initial Payment Schedule, click the Compensation Button and the Compensation box, Figure 13 below, appears. Enter the percentage you wish to add to the Interest Rate. The Portion of AF (Amount Financed) defaults to the total amount financed on the contract – it can be adjusted. Check the box appropriate to the compensation payment schedule for your business, and click the Calculate button. The amount of compensation appears in compensation field you checked. Based on the Business Line and Contract Type you selected at the top of the calculator, certain compensation options are enabled or disabled, ask your Credit Analyst if you need additional information.

Click the Apply button to apply the compensation amount to the payment schedule. The payments in the Payment Schedule Window are adjusted to reflect the new Interest Rate. The compensation amount will display in the Cost/Comp Summary box when you select that button.

The Buy-Down button opens the Low Rate/Buy Down/Extensions box, two examples are shown in Figure 14.

You may either solve for the dealer cost by entering a desired buy-down rate or solve for a rate by entering a dealer cost amount.

To calculate the rate based on a dealer cost amount select the check box at the top of the screen (Solve for New Rate by Dealer Cost), illustated in Figure 14. The Dealer Cost field becomes enabled and all other fields are disabled. Enter the dollar amount of the desired dealer cost, $2,250.00 for the example, in the Dealer Cost field and click the Calculate button. The new rate displays in the Apply/Contract Rate Field and the dealer cost amount is updated and displayed in the Dealer Low Rate Cost Field (re-calculated to be $2,249.93 in this example).

Click the Apply button if you wish to apply this new rate to the contract.

Figure 15.

If you wish to calculate the dealer cost by entering a desired rate, enter the interest rate in the Contract Rate One box, as shown in Figure 15,

Click the Calculate button to determine the dealer cost of the buy-down. The dealer cost to buy-down the rate will be shown in the Dealer Cost box.

Click the Apply button and payments are adjusted to reflect the lower rate. The dealer cost of the buy-down will display in the Cost/Comp screen.

Low Rate Extension/Buy Down after an Extension

To extend a Deere-Sponsored Low Rate Program enter the contract information on the main screen. The interest rate entered should be the buy rate (6.75%) and the number of payments (5 annual) should include the extension period (12 months). See the example below, Figure 16.

Figure 16.

Figure 17.

After calculating the payments by selecting the Calculate Payments button, select the Buy Down button, to launch the Low Rate/Buy Down/Extensions box. Enter the Deere-Sponsored low rate (5% for 48 months) in the "contract rate 1" field and enter the number of months provided by Deere in the appropriate field. Select the Calculate button. The cost of the extension will appear in the "Dealer Low Rate Extension Cost" field as shown here in Figure 17.

If you wish to buy a Deere-Sponsored rate down further in addition to extending the term, you must first extend the term per the above instructions. After you have calculated the cost of the extension, the Buy Down After Ext button becomes available. Clicking this button launches the Low Rate Extension Buy Down box. Figure 18, below. Enter the rate, 4.5%, you would like to buy the contract down to in the Contract Rate field and select the Calculate button. The dealer cost will appear in the "Cost to Dealer" field, Figure 18 below. If you wish to apply this rate to the contract select the Apply button. This will bring you back to the Low Rate/ Buy Down/ Extensions Box, Figure 19. The "Dealer Low Rate Cost " field will be updated with the cost amount from the Low Rate Extension Buy Down box as shown in figure 19.

Figure 18.

Figure 19.

To apply both the lower rate and the extension to the contract click the Apply button from the Low Rate/ Buy Down/ Extensions Box. Notice in Figure 20, the Contract Rate and Payment Schedule has been adjusted from Figure 16, above. The total dealer cost will be calculated in the Cost/Comp Summary screen.

Figure 20.

Blended Rate

To calculate a blended rate you need to add a contract rate to the Contract Rate One box and the Contract Rate Two box along with the Portion of AF (amount financed) for each respective rate.

When the second contract rate is entered in Contract Rate Two box the calculation appears in the Blended Rate box. In the example below, Figure 21, the blended rate is 8.50% and total amount financed is $200,000.

Figure 21.

Click the Calculate button and then the Apply button to automatically change the Interest Rate and Payment amounts in the Payment Window on the main screen.

In the above example, Figure 21, we have two pieces of equipment at two different rates - one with an amount financed for $125,000 at 7.75% and another with an amount financed of $75,000 at 9.75% - total amount financed is $200,000. The blended rate calculation is 8.50%. Note - The initial contract must be calculated at the higher rate, in the above example – 9.75%.

Dealer Purchased Waiver – There are two options for calculating dealer-purchased waiver. You can enter the dealer cost amount you choose to spend and the calculator returns the number of waiver months that can be purchased without going over that amount (only full months of wavier can be purchased if you choose this method). You can also enter the Dealer Waiver End Date and the calculator returns the Dealer Cost.

To calculate the number of months of waiver based on a dealer cost amount, select the Solve for Waiver Period by Dealer Cost check box – only the Dealer Cost field is enabled. Enter the dollar amount of desired dealer cost and click the Calculate button. The Dealer Waiver End Date is populated with the number of waiver months that can be purchased. When using this method, the calculator determines the number of whole waiver months that can be purchased for the amount entered, without exceeding the amount.

Figure 22.

The Dealer Cost field is updated to reflect the exact cost of purchasing the waiver, but will never exceed the original amount entered. If the amount entered is not enough to purchase at least one month of waiver an error message displays. If you wish to apply the waiver period to the contract press the Apply button and the Payment Schedule is adjusted to reflect the waiver. The calculated Dealer Cost displays in the Cost/Comp Summary Screen.

To calculate the cost of offering a waiver by entering the Dealer Waiver End Date, enter the date when the dealer- sponsored waiver should expire and press the Calculate button. The cost of the waiver appears in the Dealer Cost field. Press the Apply button to apply the waiver on the contract.

Figure 22 shows a three-month waiver with a Dealer Waiver Cost of $1,631.04, which will be reflected in the Cost/Comp Summary screen.

Deere-Sponsored Waiver with Dealer Waiver – Enter the dates when the waiver periods expire for the Deere Waiver and the Dealer Waiver. Press the Calculate button and Apply button to apply the waiver on the contract.

Deere-Sponsored Waiver with Dealer Participation – Enter the date when the waiver period expires for Deere and press the Calculate button. This causes the Participation button to become active. Click the Participation button, dealer participation can now be added to the contract. The cost of dealer participation will be shown in the Cost/Comp Summary box when the Cost/Comp button is depressed.

Amortization Button and Schedule
For Retail Contracts only, this button displays the amortization table at the bottom of the calculator screen, similar to Figure 23, below. The window allows the user to check the amortization of the contract. No editing may be done within this table. The scroll bar at the right allows the user to see all the payments even though they all may not appear in the window. The entire Amortization Schedule may be printed from the Print Quote Screen by clicking the Schedule Button.

This table shows all payments as well as the principal and interest amounts for each payment. The columns are totaled at the bottom of the table.

Many of the lease fields and
buttons are the same as those for retail. Hover your mouse
over the field or button on the on the Lease Interface shown in Figure 25 below,
for a short description of that field or button. Clicking on the field or button
will take you to a more detailed explanation. USE THE BACK BUTTON ON YOUR BROWSER
TO RETURN TO FIGURE 25.

Figure 25.

Note: All lease
calculations are pre-tax

The lease field
descriptions are similar to the retail fields except for the following:

1. First Payment Date - The
calculator default is ONE ADVANCE PAYMENT, and the calculator will AUTOMATICALLY
set the first payment date to match the contract date. The first Payment Date can also be manually adjusted if needed.
When manually adjusting MAKE SURE THE FIRST PAYMENT DATE AND PURCHASE OPTION DATE ARE CORRECT.

After you enter all of the lease fields and click the Calculate Payments button you generate a Payment Schedule. In Figure 26 the Payment Schedule Window shows the 1st semiannual lease payment on 10/11/2003 which is correct. All lease payments are paid in advance.

Figure 26.

2. Purchase Option Date – This is the date the customer will be able to purchase the equipment if they choose to do so.

3.
Actual Purchase Option - This is the amount that it would
cost the dealer to sell the equipment to the customer at the end of the contract.

5. # of Addt'l Adv. Pmts - This is the number of additional advance payments that are paid on the contract date. This means in addition to the one default advance payment. Placing a value here will move that number of payments from the end of the payment stream to the contract date.

At the top of the box is a drop down box, from which the user may select Payment Discount, Payment Discount by Dealer Cost or Payment Discount by Rate.

Payment Discount allows the user to enter a dollar amount or percentage to reduce the payment and the appropriate cost is calculated.

Payment Discount by Dealer Cost lets the user enter the dealer cost amount and the calculator solves for the percentage reduction in the payment.

Payment Discount by Rate allows the user to adjust the implied lease rate.

Select the option you wish to use and input the data needed.

Figure 28.

In the example from Figure 27, above, the dealer wishes to discount the customer payments $917.31. To do so, in the Lease Payment Discount Programs box, Figure 28 above, select the Payment Discount option from the drop down box, enter $917.31 in the Dealer Sponsored Low Rate Pmt Disc (% or $) field and press the Calculate button. The Dealer Cost is calculated as $2,655.91. Press the Apply button if you wish to apply the lower payment to the deal. The result is shown in Figure 29, the payments are reduced to $19,000, and the "implied rate" is adjusted from 3.6% to 2.573%.

Figure 29.

8.
Compensation - Lease (U.S. Only) – Dealer compensation for a lease can be done one of two ways, increasing the implied lease rate, similar to retail contracts, or increasing the payment, as shown in the following example, Figure 30:

Figure 30.

From the Construction example shown above, click on the Compensation button to get the Compensation box, Figure 31, below. Select Payment Add-on Up-front and add $59.16 to the lease payment originally shown. Click Calculate to see the Up-Front Compensation amount of $1,940.72. Click Apply and the new monthly payment amount of $2,875.00 will be applied to the lease deal as shown in Figure 32, below, and the Dealer Compensation will appear in the Cost/Comp summary, Figure 33.

Figure 31.

As with Retail Compensation, based on the Business Line and Contract Type you selected at the top of the calculator, certain compensation options are enabled or disabled, ask your Credit Analyst if you need additional information.

Figure 32.

Figure 33.

Figure 34.

Lease with a Trade (Canada Only)

To calculate a lease with a trade select the Details button from the main screen when entering the Amount Financed. Enter the "Selling Price", "Trade Amount" and any other items specific to the lease deal as shown in Figure 34:

When completed, click OK, the "Amount Financed" will appear in the "Amount Financed" Field on the Main Screen, Figure 35, below. After entering all applicable items on the Main Screen click the Calculate Payments button to generate a payment schedule.

Figure 35.

Select the first payment by clicking on it then click on the Skip button to the right of the payment schedule. The first payment will be changed to 0 and the remaining payments are adjusted accordingly, as shown below in Figure 36. The trade amount is applied to the first payment and the difference adjusts the lease price.